Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2021 action-adventure game developed by Eidos-Montréal and originally published by Square Enix. Set in an original universe based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, the game's plot follows the Guardians who, while attempting to capture a beast for a wealthy collector, inadvertently trigger a catastrophe which threatens the peace of the galaxy. The player controls the team's self-proclaimed leader, Star-Lord, and issues commands to other Guardians including Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon and Groot. At certain points in the game, the player makes key decisions via dialogue trees that affect the relationships between Guardians and change the outcome of missions. Guardians of the Galaxy was the second game developed in partnership between Marvel Entertainment and Square Enix. The game is strictly single-player and has no downloadable content or microtransactions, marking a departure from Marvel Entertainment and Square Enix's previous game, Marvel's Avengers. Marvel collaborated closely with the team at Eidos to create an original version of the Guardians. Despite the game's lighthearted tone, themes of trauma and grief are central to the story. The soundtrack comprises an original score composed by Richard Jacques and a 1980s-inspired album by the game's audio director, Steve Szczepkowski. The game was announced in June 2021 and released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch in October of that year. While anticipation for the game was low due to the lackluster reception of Marvel's Avengers, it was favorably reviewed at launch. It was praised for its narrative, music, characters, and cast performance, but criticized for its gameplay and combat systems. The game was nominated for several year-end accolades by gaming publications, including Best Narrative at The Game Awards 2021. Despite positive critical reception, the game did not meet Square Enix's sales expectations. Gameplay In Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the player controls Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, from a third-person perspective. The player can attack enemies with elemental guns which have four shooting modes; ice shots temporarily freeze enemies, lightning shots stun them, wind shots pull in faraway enemies, and plasma shots deal fire damage to boss characters.